hey, not any advice on planting the trees im afraid just thought id say that wilkinsons are selling fruit trees for Â£5 we got my oh's mum a cherry tree for mothers day (2nd march!) we thought they were a bit of a bargain unless you want more mature trees!

i dont know how old they are im afraid.... the cherry tree we brought (inc root) is about 1.5 metres high so thats about 5 (ish) foot i think! so not a sapling but i dont know how long it will take to produce fruit! it does look like a bit of a weedy twig but has plenty of new growth on it! our olive and lemon trees have started to produce goodies this year just got to resist temptation and leave them on for a little longer!

We are starting an orchard down in our bottom field. Last year about the end of February we planted 8 trees, 2 apple, 2 pear, 2 plum and 2 cherry. We planted them with bonemeal and dried horse manure (fumier cheval) and put in stakes about the same height as the trees. When we bought them the chap at the garden centre pruned them back fiercely (they ended up basically as twigs) but luckily they took well and we soon had nice bushy little trees and we even had a single pear. This year we are going to add some more, in particular peaches. Fingers crossed we get more than a single pear this year!

stephen- wow , olive tree!! that sounds great - are they easy to get established? sounds a bit more daring than my attempts at the standard varieties - sounds like you got a real bargain with your trees though - well done you

Well hilbillie you know what they say " from small acorns great oaks grow!!" or in your case hopefully pears etc - good luck

The olive was brought quite mature already and lived in a huge pot by the table and chairs in the garden, my oh and i transplanted it about 8 months ago into the garden and it got regurlar mounds of chicken 'presents' slopped ontop of it and its producing loads of olives this year! the frost weve had dosent seem to of done it any harm at all! am well chuffed!!

linz - im popping back to wilkos today to see what other bargains they have as im only doing a half day hehe i think you can shop online at www.wilko.co.uk